Associate Animation Director, Living World - Elsewhere Entertainment

DEMONWARE (CANADA) , INC.; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Activision is seeking an Associate Animation Director for Living World to shape the animation vision for our new IP. You will lead cross-functional teams and mentor animators to deliver believable, reactive, and immersive living-world experiences in Santa Monica, CA.

You will collaborate with Design, Engineering, Art, Audio, and Narrative to align on a shared creative approach, ensuring high-quality content that enhances gameplay systems and storytelling.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in game animation and leadership on AAA titles.
• Ability to translate high-level creative goals into actionable plans for diverse teams.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Define and champion the animation vision for living-world systems and ambient behaviors.
• Lead cross-functional teams from concept through implementation and polish.
• Mentor animators and animation leads to foster collaboration and growth.
• Collaborate with Design, Engineering, Art, Audio, and Narrative to enrich player immersion.
• Drive scalable animation systems supporting emergent gameplay and dynamic world interactions.
• Identify risks and dependencies early and guide effective solutions.

Skills

Game animation leadership

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Creative direction

Communication

Mentoring

Tools

Maya

Job description

Job Title: Associate Animation Director, Living World - Elsewhere Entertainment

Requisition ID: R028282

Elsewhere Entertainment is looking for an Associate Animation Director, Living World to help shape the animation vision for an exciting new IP.

In this role, you will define and champion the animation vision for the living world, creating believable, reactive, and memorable experiences that bring the game world to life. You will partner closely with Animation, Design, Engineering, Art, Audio, and Narrative teams to guide the development of systemic behaviors, ambient character interactions, and authored world vignettes that enrich player immersion and support the game’s creative vision.

As a senior creative leader, you will align teams around a shared vision, drive cross-disciplinary collaboration, mentor animators, and help ensure that living‑world experiences achieve the highest standards of quality, authenticity, and player impact.

You’ll help us by...

• Defining and driving the animation vision for living‑world systems, ambient behaviors, environmental interactions, and authored vignettes.
• Establishing and maintaining a high creative and quality bar for content that makes the world feel alive, reactive, and full of character.
• Leading cross-functional teams to deliver cohesive living‑world experiences from concept through implementation and polish.
• Partnering with Design, Engineering, Art, Audio, and Narrative to ensure animation enhances gameplay systems, worldbuilding, storytelling, and player immersion.
• Translating high‑level creative goals into clear direction, priorities, and actionable plans for development teams.
• Guiding the development of scalable animation systems that support emergent gameplay, contextual behaviors, and dynamic world interactions.
• Reviewing work in context, providing creative feedback, and helping teams solve complex artistic, technical, and production challenges.
• Mentoring animators and animation leads while fostering a culture of collaboration, craftsmanship, and continuous improvement.
• Identifying creative risks, dependencies, and opportunities early, and aligning teams around effective solutions.
• Driving improvements to workflows, tools, and production practices that enable the creation of high‑quality systemic content at scale.
• Collaborating with animation leadership to ensure a consistent animation vision across gameplay, narrative, creatures, cinematics, and living‑world experiences.
• Representing living‑world animation in planning, reviews, milestone assessments, and cross‑department decision‑making.

You’re awesome because you have...

• Extensive experience in game animation, including leadership responsibilities on one or more shipped AAA titles.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams and influencing creative direction across departments.
• A deep understanding of how animation, AI, gameplay systems, narrative, audio, and environmental storytelling work together to create immersive worlds.
• Experience directing or developing systemic content, such as ambient behaviors, contextual interactions, social systems, crowds, environmental storytelling, or living‑world features.
• Strong creative vision and the ability to communicate that vision clearly to diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Exceptional collaboration, communication, and relationship‑building skills.
• A strong foundation in animation principles, acting, physicality, timing, staging, and visual storytelling.
• Experience working with game engines, animation systems, state machines, blending, procedural techniques, and implementation pipelines.
• The ability to balance creative ambition with technical constraints, scalability requirements, and production realities.
• A thoughtful and constructive leadership style that inspires trust, ownership, and team growth.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguity while maintaining forward momentum.
• Proficiency with Maya and familiarity with modern motion‑capture and game‑animation pipelines.

Our World

At Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We're driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together.

We're home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises in the industry and continue to push the boundaries of interactive entertainment through world‑class talent, creativity, and technology.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well‑being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility re